"Projectionists – pull curtain before titles.” 

This note, stuck on the cans of film reels for Otto Preminger’s contentious new movie, The Man with the Golden Arm, sparked the industry’s capricious love affair with film titles. The year was 1955 and Preminger knew that his collaboration with graphic designer Saul Bass had produced something interesting. And he wanted his audience, who were normally spared the dull roll of credits, to see it. That simple cut-out of a heroin addict’s arm caused a sensation.

From the tense closeups of Kim Novak’s face in 1958’s Vertigo to the singing ruby lips of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975; from the graceful, three-and-a-half minute crane shot in 1958’s Touch of Evil to the playful, referential intro to The Player in 1992; and from the shadow and substance of The Twilight Zone in 1959 to the intricate cartography of the 2011 TV adaptation of Game of Thrones, title sequences have prepared, captivated, thrilled, and inspired us.

At Art of the Title, we are the leading online resource of title sequence design, spanning the film, television, conference, and videogame industries. Featuring title design from countries around the world, we honor the creators and innovators who contribute to the field, discussing and displaying their work with a desire to explicate, facilitate, and instigate.

—Ian Albinson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief